Mexico beach but not beach

[chemenger]

Can anyone suggest a destination in Mexico that is easy to get to, on a beach but also with access to interesting day trips. We want to go in January with adult children, none of us can sit around a pool or on a beach for more than half a day without getting bored but we like the idea of a resort.

Dreams Resort Talum is well located www.dreamsresorts.com/en_us/resorts/mexico/tulum/tours-excursions.html

I stayed at xcaret Occidental. It has a small beach and some great pools. It’s next to xcaret park and one of the other parks. It’s a ten min drive from Playa del Carmen. About 45 mins from Tulum and about an hour from Coba. Close to various cenotes and opposite the road from the Secret River caving system.

I hired a car which was cheap to do and straightforward. You’d need to be a confident driver. Or you can pay for taxis everywhere. Or walk up to the highway (it’s a 15 min walk) and jump in one of the collectivios which run between Playa and Tulum and drop you off anywhere you want. I thought the proper organised excursions were very expensive.

Thanks, I’ll take a look at those suggestions.

Any of the main resorts are in easy reach of local towns or the big destination day trips.

Hire a car, taxis cost a bloody fortune!

Dreams Tulum is lovely but wouldn't recommend for the kind of holiday you describe. Was there for 2 weeks recently and climbing the walls by the end.

Any of that area you are quite out on a limb just huge resorts off the main road. Huge journeys to get anywhere to sight see. Stuck in the resort when not in excursion as nowhere to just go and potter.

What do the towns local to the resorts have to offer (not big shoppers). Museums? Old buildings?

Maybe take out a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide to Mexico from the library? It will give you some ideas of where to base yourself to make the most of sightseeing. There was another thread on here fairly recently about Mexico which might be useful - apparently a lot of the beaches have a bad seaweed problem at certain times of the year.

Around Tulum or Plays del carmen are both great bases to get out and explore. Senotes are great to explore plus Coba (pyramids in the jungle) Tulum is fab and as non beach bathers ( we do love to snorkel/dive) we found plenty to do. We have done one week in a resort then a week's self catering with car hire and would hire a condo on the beach as our preference if we went again.

I have to say I wasn't as impressed by Playa del Carmen as I thought I would be. Any concerns about being too far out from Playa son evaporated when we visited. I'd thought we'd pop in a few times but went for one afternoon and that was enough.

We went to a few American shops which we'd never been to such as Bath and Bodyworks. The beach was covered in seaweed the day we were there (regular problem) and dd said she thought Skegness was nicer. Yes, there's some bars, restaurants but nothing amazing. Best thing was Walmart.

I can imagine if you were there in a non seaweed period it might be quite nice to spend a day in one of the beach clubs - especially if you're younger/like listening to loud dance music while on a sun lounger. But I saw nothing to tempt me away from the free cocktails at the hotel pool!

Also did Occidental Xcaret and bought unlimited passes to Xcaret, can come and go as you please that way as right next door.
Via the hotel tour desk we did Tulum/Chichen Itza and a boat trip.
They also arranged trips to the other parks (Xel-Ha/Xsenses/Xpolr etc) which we couldn't do as our daughter is too young, a friend has done them all and raved about them.
Can also get tours to Akamal beach which is supposed to be nice, also trips to Playa Del Carmen but you could even get a taxi there, could get a boat from there to Cozumal i believe.

There were also tours to Coba plus cenotes (again couldn't do those)

The towns on the Yucatan peninsula were very touristy from what we saw - so lots of bars and restaurants and tat shops rather than interesting attractive towns with museums etc. There are some major Mayan sites at Tulum etc. The coastline at Tulum is also beautiful. Cancun is incredibly built up with resort after resort and the Riviera Maya less so but still quite a lot of resorts. Playa del Carmen is very much a tourist town. What we did was spend a couple of days in Mexico City for the art/culture/history bit then had a week and a half at a resort on Cozumel (an island off the Riviera Maya - you catch a ferry over). We hired a jeep on the island and went round the ruined Mayan town there and took boat trips, visited Tulum, Playa del Carmen etc. If you like snorkelling/diving then Cozumel is a good spot. You could look at splitting your time between Merida (old colonial city on the Yucatan peninsula- supposedly interesting and safe) and a resort on the coast (I’d suggest either Tulum or Cozumel) for a more interesting holiday that wasn’t just lounger lying?